direction.
"Unless I miss my guess, all documentation says that a zombie would head toward a heavily populated area in search of food. It must be headed downtown."
"That kind of makes sense. There are a lot of people downtown."
"We need to get going. Polly, come on. Give me a push."
Bert looked over at Stanley. "Where are you going? We need to get to downtown. It's going to be a long walk."
"Don't worry. We're after a zombie. She'll be moving slowly. We've got plenty of time to catch up to her."
"Hold on, guys. I don't think Mrs. Applebaum is headed downtown," Stanley said.
"All my research says she's headed to a populated area. She has to be going downtown. Where else could she be going?"
"I think she went to the high school."
"Oh really? And just what makes you think that? Do you think she suddenly got a promotion?" Polly asked.
"No. I think she went there because of the football game." Stanley pointed over the treetops toward the setting sun. The lights at the football field had just turned on. "The game starts in about twenty minutes. She might be a zombie, but I'll bet that somewhere in her brain she knew about the game and she's on her way there right now."
William looked at his tablet and started typing furiously. He looked up and stared at Stanley. "I hate to admit it, but I think he's right. We'd better get going. There isn't too much time and if we don't stop her she could turn half the people there before we have a chance to stop her."
Chapter 6
Except for Zita, they had taken turns pushing and pulling William along the torn path Mrs. Applebaum left through the woods on her way to the high school. There were a couple of times they thought they might not be on the right path as she didn't exactly go in a straight line to the school, but then they'd find a piece of her torn house dress. Even stained and torn it was unmistakable. It was nearly seven and the noise from the cheering crowd had grown louder with each step.
The sun had nearly disappeared and the lights from the football field gave them a great direction to head. The path Mrs. Applebaum took no longer meandered, but now made a direct cut to the field. Fortunately the ground stayed firm and pushing William became easier. When the woods finally broke, they found themselves on the far end of the baseball field and on the wrong side of the fence.
"Where is she?" Polly asked, looking across the dim field toward the football field.
The lights made it difficult to see all the way across. She could be in the shadow of the bleachers. She could be under the bleachers. She could be anywhere.
"There's no hole in the fence," William pointed out. "She must have gone around."
Stanley looked at the machete. He'd had to cut their way through some of the underbrush as they moved through the woods, but there was still gore on it from cutting off Mr. Burstein's head. It was nothing compared to the gore on the baseball bat Bert held.
"How did this happen?" Stanley asked in almost a whisper.
"Near as I can tell, Mrs. Applebaum died a couple days ago. Not sure of the cause and I'm not sure we'll ever know. From what I've read, she must have come in contact with some sort of zombie virus. If she kills anyone, they'll also become zombies and we need to stop that from happening."
"How did you get so smart, Bill?" Polly asked.
"That's not important. Let's move. We need to stay together." William pointed off to the right.
Bert took up pushing William, setting the bat across the wheelchair's handles. The dirt around the baseball field was a little rocky, but hard packed enough that they made good time. Unfortunately it was too dark to look for signs or Mrs. Applebaum's progress. Even if she'd gone around the other way, they'd run into her sooner or later.
The only sounds from the crowd were cheering and whistling. The announcer called out the players' numbers and names. If Mrs. Applebaum had made it there, people would be screaming and yelling.
Or would